Denton City Council

The City of Denton is governed by a mayor and six city council members. The Mayor and two council members are elected at-large, and four council members are elected from single districts. Terms are two years in length and each of the seven members of the council can serve up to a maximum of three consecutive terms.

The Denton City Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber, with a Work Session typically beginning at 2 p.m. in the Council Work Session Room. Please refer to the posted agenda as the start time of the Work Sessions may vary.

The Council holds work sessions on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, typically beginning at 2 p.m. in the Council Work Session Room, unless otherwise posted.

Regular City council meetings and work sessions are open to the public. The Council Chamber and the Council Work Session Room are located at City Hall, 215 E. McKinney Street, Denton. Meetings are also available live and on-demand online and are televised live on DTV, the City’s government access cable channel (Charter 194, Grande 12, and Verizon 38). Meetings are replayed on DTV Wednesday at 9 a.m., Thursday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m., and Monday at 1 a.m. View agendas or watch live.

Denton City Council

Chris Watts was elected Mayor in May 2014 and is serving his third term. He previously served three terms as a Council Member representing District 4. Mayor Watts graduated from Denton High School before going on to the University of North Texas and obtaining a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and a Master’s in Education Counseling and Student Services. In 1990, Mayor Watts switched his career path from computer programmer and analyst to real estate broker and investor. He later attended Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, received his Doctor of Jurisprudence in 2000, and pursued a career in real estate law. He has coached students for the American Bar Association Student Division Negotiation Competition for the past several years. Mayor Watts has owned and operated a real estate investment firm for over 20 years.

Gerard Hudspeth was elected to District 1 in May 2017 and is serving his first term. Preceding his election, he served on the City of Denton’s Planning and Zoning Commission and various other boards. Councilman Hudspeth is an alumnus of Denton high school and a graduate of North Central Texas College. He has worked in the legal industry for over 16 years and is currently a Process Service Manager and Litigation Support Consultant. Giving back to the community is a passion of his that has lead him to serve as a CASA volunteer for over 8 years and as a Mentor Denton volunteer. His favorite book is Joseph: A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness by Charles R. Swindoll. His Favorite movie is A Few Good Men by Rob Reiner.

Keely Briggs was elected to District 2 in May 2015 and is serving her second term. A Texas native born in Tyler, she first came to Denton to attend the University of North Texas in 1995, where she graduated with a BA in sociology and received certification for mediation training from the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program administered by the Institute of Applied Economics. In 1997, Keely and her husband, Chris, were happily married outside of the Little Chapel in the Woods at TWU. Chris—a graduate of DHS and UNT—is a senior executive for a Texas-based international data analytics and technology firm specializing in retail, healthcare, and economic development. When not seeing to the important work of representing the citizens of District 2 and the City of Denton, Keely can be found volunteering in our local schools.

Don Duff was elected to District 3 in June 2017 and is serving his first term.
Don was born in Hillsboro, Texas. He grew up in Fort Worth and graduated from Arlington Heights High School. Don Graduated from University of Texas Arlington with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He worked as a design and manufacturing engineer for 25 years with Texas Instruments, Fairchild Semiconductor, National Semiconductor. Don designed calculators, digital watches, F111 Terrain following radar, Mariner-Mars 1969 , etc. Started my own electronic company in California producing modules for Commadore 64 computer. He started and sold a Real Estate office in California. Don moved to Denton in 2006. He started Five R Realty in 2010.

Deb Armintor was elected to At Large Place 5 in June 2018 and is serving her first term. Deb has lived in Denton since 2002, after receiving her PhD. in eighteenth-century literature from Rice University in Houston. She is a tenured professor of English at UNT, and lives in the Nottingham Woods neighborhood with her husband Marshall and their children, Jonah and Shula. Before her election to City Council, Deb served on the Public Utilities Board and was active in the grassroots on a number of local issues.

Paul Meltzer was elected to At Large Place 6 in May 2018 and is serving his first term. He previously served as Chair of the Oak Gateway Steering Committee and as Vice Chair of the Downtown TIF Board. Paul earned his BA in Philosophy at Wesleyan University in 1982 and his Master of Business Administration at the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College in 1989. He worked for thirty years primarily as a new product executive in both consumer products and services with stints at divisions of General Mills and Campbell Soup Company, ultimately retiring as Senior Vice President of Product Management at Insight Communications, through its acquisition in 2012 by Time-Warner Cable. He moved to Denton in 2008 when his wife began work as a UNT professor. He has been an active community volunteer in Denton since.